General Information

The Scout Section is for young people, usually aged between 10½ and 14 years. A young person can come in to the Troop at 10 and may stay until they are 14½ years old. The Scout Troop is the third and final Section in the Scout Group. Scouting is about being with friends, as part of a team, participating fully in the adventure and opportunities of life.

Scouts are encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities as part of their programme. “Participation” rather than meeting set standards is the key approach and for the Scout who wants to be recognised for his or her achievements there are a number of Challenges Awards and Activity Badges. Scouts take part in a balanced programme that helps them to find out about the world in which they live, encourages them to know their own abilities and the importance of keeping fit and helps develop their creative talents. It also provides opportunities to explore their own values and personal attitudes. We aim to deliver at least 50% of the programme outdoors doing advertourous activities. From time to time it is expected that Scouts will participate in community based projects.

Being outdoors is important and half the Programme is given over to taking part in both the traditional Scouting skills, such as camping, survival and cooking as well as the wide range of adventurous activities, anything from abseiling to yachting, Ice climbing to Gliding.

The international aspect gives Scouting a special appeal and many Scouts now travel abroad during their time in the Section. In 2007 40,000 Scouts from around the World attended the World Jamboree in the UK, and Scouts regularly participate in International camps and experiences both on home soil and abroad, each of them a unique experience in its own right.

Patrols

Scouts borrows a great deal of its structure from the Lord Baden Powell’s experience in the military. The scout section is known as a Troop, with scouts being organised into Patrols.

Each scout wears their Patrol badge on their right arm below the District Badge. Each Patrol is made up of around 6-8 scouts of a range of ages and new scouts normally join a patrol in which they know at least one person. Each Patrol is led by a Patrol Leader (PL) helped by an Assistant Patrol Leader (APL); these are scouts who have demonstrated their competence, good behaviour and been a good example to those in the Troop.

Scout Programme

All Scout sections rely upon a ‘training’ scheme in the form of badges to track progress of the scouts and to provide a feeling of achievement. However, scouting is not just about badges, the ‘games’ and adventurous activities are very important to scouting, not just because they are enjoyable, but because they are also important in the young persons development.

Nights Away

Nights away from home make up a large part of the Scout programme and help young people gain independence and spend time with friends. At 1st Halton we usually go away for at least two or three weekend camps a year and a week long camp either the first or second week of the summer holidays plus many overnight activities through out the year. It is expected that Scouts will attend at least one weekend camp and the summer camp.

We welcome parents and carers to come in at anytime if they want to know more, or even become an occasional helper. If you have any questions regarding the programme then please come in and speak to the Scout leaders or use the contact form here to contact the Scout Leader